Page 14 - ESCARPMENT MAGAZINE | Winter 2013

My first experience on skis, was in Freistadt, Austria. Mom says
I was still in diapers. Dad says if my skis were any shorter, they would’ve
sharpened my boots. Next time I skied, we were members at Georgian
Peaks, the gnarliest club on the Escarpment, complete with ice and wind.
In the beginning, I watched from day care. But within the next handful of
years, I would ski a lot. Mom and Dad felt that the competitiveness of ski
racing would help my brothers and I develop our skills and confidence.
So from 4 to 14, that’s what I did. Luckily, our ski club sat right on the
Greyhound bus line from Owen Sound to Collingwood facilitating our
training and my parents could still go to work. As long as my grades were
good and my cello songs were memorized, Mom and Dad would keep
buying me bus tickets. Ultimately, that would become a plane ticket to
Switzerland for my first chance to ski race for the national team. *
... a call to fight
Challenge
FEATURE | challenge ...a call to fight
BY LARISA YURKIW
14 Escarpment Magazine Winter 2013